updated 10:55 am EDT, Fri October 17, 2008

OWC MacBook HD Upgrades

Other World Computing finished its week today by capitalizing on the launch of Apple's new MacBooks to ship its own set of MacBook drive upgrades. The kits take advantage of recent updates by hard drive makers and, as barebones kits, are normally less expensive than paying Apple's upgrade price. They also let owners keep the factory-stock drive, OWC is keen to add.

Most of the options revolve around 320GB disks and start off with Hitachi's basic Travelstar 5K320, which spins at 5,400RPM and carries 8MB of cache for $75. Owners who want both speed and the larger storage can opt for either a Travelstar 7K320 ($110 after rebate) or Seagate's Momentus 7200.3 ($120), either of which turns at 7,200RPM and carries twice as much cache. A lone 500GB hard drive, the Samsung Spinpoint M6, steps down to 5,400RPM and 8MB cache for its extra storage and a relatively low $180 price.

Courtesy of Apple's design change, both MacBooks and MacBook Pros can now be upgraded by the user and so don't require special tools or a technician's help. All of the drives are available today.